


think of me

by ryuuseirune



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Bad Writing, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, Love Confessions, M/M, Masquerade, THIS IS REALLY BAD AND RUSHED IM SORRY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:01:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryuuseirune/pseuds/ryuuseirune
Summary: It wasn't Hop, but he could pretend.
Relationships: Hop/Masaru | Victor
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	think of me

**Author's Note:**

> haha what if we f*cked at a masquerade

“I don’t really want to go to the masquerade party, to be honest,” Hop chuckles, fiddling with his chopsticks.

_ Well, I guess that means he doesn’t want to go with me,  _ Victor thinks, sighing internally. Of course, he’d rather spend time at home than go to Leon’s high-end party and meet all the elites – but for Hop to actually express that sentiment is nothing short of disappointing.  _ Forget my plan of asking him out and maybe even confessing at the dance, then.  _

Next to him, distress burns across his twin’s normally-placid features as she reaches over the table and shakes Hop by the shoulders.

“Are you kidding? Even Victor is going, and he’s a damn shut-in,” Gloria near-yells, drawing attention to their table. Hop looks like he’s going to say something, but he can’t sneak in a single word under Gloria’s scrutiny. Victor shifts uncomfortably as Bede rolls his eyes and turns to him.

“Vic, if Hop’s not going, wanna come with me?”

“Okay,” he says quietly, looking down at his already-melted mint chip ice cream. 

“What? You’re going with  _ him?” _ Hop asks, pursing his lips. “Let’s ditch these fancy-schmancy people and chill at my place. You’d probably have more fun with me, anyway.”

“Actually,” Victor manages, “I kind of wanted to go.”

Victor can almost feel Hop’s disappointment as the other boy sinks back into his chair. It’s not like he doesn’t want to spend time with Hop – but fuck, even if Hop didn’t want to be his date to the dance, he would at least try to enjoy the food and the anonymity. Hop pouts at Victor and he almost feels guilty before Gloria speaks again.

“See?” Gloria says. “If you won’t go, we’ll all just have fun without you, then!” 

“What are y’all gonna wear?” Marnie asks. “Since it’s Pokemon-themed, after all.”

“Probably something Zacian blue,” Gloria muses. “You?”

“Morpeko,” is all Marnie says before she turns back to her chocolate cake.

“Bede?” Gloria asks.

“Hatterene,” Bede says. “What about you, Victor?”

“Uh – I haven’t decided yet,” he mumbles, stirring the melted ice cream in his bowl.

“I can help you pick out an outfit,” Bede offers. “What time do you want to meet up?”

As he and Bede plan out their next meeting, Victor can’t help but notice the concern on Hop’s face.

* * *

Victor chose Bede over Hop.

If Bede and Victor hadn’t been going out to Lee’s damn party, maybe it would have been okay – but now Victor is going to spend time with Bede. He’ll dance with Bede – maybe even exchange confessions – maybe even kiss him. Hop groans into his hands. Does Victor like Bede? It’s practically a date – and Victor doesn’t even enjoy going to large events! Sure, Hop hadn’t  _ asked _ him if he wanted to go – but he should’ve, just so Bede wouldn’t have a chance to spend time alone with  _ his _ Victor.

_ No, that’s not right, _ Hop reminds himself.  _ Victor isn’t yours. He doesn’t even like you. _

His mirror image stares back at him, donning a white tuxedo and a dark mask. A Wooloo-themed outfit would probably be common amongst the attendees – but Hop didn’t care. If that was the case, it would be even less likely for Victor, Gloria, or Bede to recognize him. Marnie, though, was too observant for her own good – she’d probably pick Hop out in an instant. 

It didn’t matter – his purple hair would probably make people’s heads turn.

Hop pulls up his black gloves and sends out his Corviknight. She stares back at him with a glint in her eye – a half sneer – and he climbs onto her back. With a flap of her metallic wings, she lifts off, steering towards the Battle Tower.

* * *

It’s only an hour into the party when he bumps into a buff-and-blue-clad woman, her silk ribbons flowing around her like liquid gold. Her short brown hair is too-familiar, and combined with her bright brown eyes –

“Hop? Is that you?” she asks, narrowing her eyes. It’s Gloria, through and through – Hop remembers her planned outfit and sighs. Should he deny it or go with it? He’s screwed either way – Gloria’s too quick to pull him to the side with a hushed, “what the fuck?”

“I can explain,” he whispers. Even under her solid-gold mask, Hop can see the ends of her lips curl down in a dissatisfied expression. “I was just worried. If Victor gets overwhelmed – let me know and I’ll take him home.”

“You are such an ass,” she hisses. “Why did you say you didn’t want to come? I bet if you’d asked him, Victor would’ve gone with you instead of Bede.”

“I thought he wouldn’t want to come!” he says defensively, biting his lip. “Are they here now?”

“Go find him yourself. I’m not telling you shit,” Gloria sniffs, and with a turn on her heel, she’s sauntering toward a familiar-looking girl in a black and yellow dress.

Okay, maybe he deserved that. 

Hop scans the room – Arceus, everyone is dancing – and finds Bede easily, swaying gracefully alongside a Lurantis-robed figure. It’s evidently  _ not _ Victor – so he continues his search until he can’t anymore, taking a seat next to the only other person not moving to the beat.

If he couldn’t find Victor, he might as well chat with someone. 

* * *

“Hey,” the man sitting next to him says casually.

Victor blinks, turning toward the voice with a half-hearted greeting on his tongue. He’s about to say “hi” before the man’s figure comes into view.

_ What the fuck? _

In the poorly-lit corner where the two are sitting, Victor almost sees Hop in the stranger’s eyes. He’s tall and broad, with tanned skin and luscious hair, gazing at Victor with a twinkle in his smile. Victor knows it’s not Hop – he said he wasn’t coming – but it looks like Hop, almost sounds like Hop, and his heart sure seems to think it’s Hop.

Well, Victor is pretty good at imagining, anyway.

“Hey,” Victor breathes out, sounding like a fool in love.

“You seem lonely,” the Hop-lookalike says, eyes glinting with interest. “Care to dance with me?”

Before Victor knows it, he’s outside on the balcony, twirling with the mysterious man in a brilliant white suit. Under the night sky, the two are tiny specks – spiraling and whirling with each other to the faint music in the distance. Victor pretends Hop’s hands are the ones guiding him as they waltz across the glassy floor, letting himself fall into this stranger’s arms again and again as they dance.

Victor wishes it was Hop.

“You seem to have something on your mind,” the man says when the music becomes more upbeat, leaning against the rail. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Victor takes a deep breath, brushing a few stray hairs behind his ear. “I mean if you don’t mind listening…” 

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to listen.”

“I guess… there’s someone I have feelings for,” Victor says quietly. “They didn’t want to come here, though – so I just went with my other friends, but I can’t stop thinking about them.”

“Strange,” the man chuckles. He watches Victor with a tantalizing smirk on his lips – searing warmth into Victor’s veins. “I’m here on my own. I didn’t tell my friends I’d be coming, but I was searching for someone and I couldn’t find them. Although I did find a wonderful dancer in disguise, so it wasn’t all that bad.”

“You’re not half-bad yourself,” Victor quips. His hands are moving on their own – they flutter to the man’s face and tug gently at the back of his head, bringing him into a chaste kiss. He’s not Hop, but Victor can pretend – just for tonight.

“I thought you said you had feelings for someone,” the stranger chuckles.

“Make me forget,” Victor whispers. “Just for tonight, I want to forget.”

Pressed against the taller man’s chest, Victor almost feels perfect – but it’s not quite there. Their masks make it difficult to kiss, scraping against each other as the man’s hand follows the curve of Victor’s back down to his bottom, giving it a slight squeeze. Victor squeaks into his mouth as their tongues tangle in the fruity flavor of punch. When they separate, Victor only wants more. Excitement pools in his gut as the man leans into Victor’s neck, licking at his collarbone. 

“Oh, Arceus, that feels – weird,” Victor gasps, throwing his head back with a sigh. The man sucks hard, marking Victor as his hands dig into the stranger’s coat with a soft whine.

“We should take this somewhere more private,” the man whispers. 

“Y-yeah,” Victor stammers out. “Fuck – do you have reservations for a room here?”

“No,” the man says. “Guess that means we can do it right here, on the top of this tower.”

* * *

Hop’s hands brush over the other man’s hips. He’s really not sure why he’s doing this – it’s not Victor, it’s not the one he wants – but when the stranger looks at him with wanting eyes, it feels like Victor. Everything about this man screams Victor – but Victor wouldn’t do this, Victor couldn’t have feelings for him, Victor would never –

His train of thought is interrupted by a quiet sob into his shoulder as the other man’s knees buckle. 

“Fuck, hurry – my friends will be worried –”

Hop takes him on top of the Battle Tower, with only the moon and stars watching.

* * *

“Victor, where have you –  _ is that a fucking hickey?” _ Gloria screeches as he stumbles inside the taxi, pulling aside his blue and red coat to reveal the already-bruising mark on his neck. He’d ended up spending the whole four hours with that stranger – and now, Victor was thoroughly satisfied. Gloria, however, was not. “Arceus, who gave you that? I thought you liked Hop?”

“I met someone,” Victor says. His voice comes out raw and worn, probably from screaming. Bede and Marnie stare at him like he’s an absolute mess, but Gloria’s eyes widen as something inside of her clicks.

“Oh no, please don’t tell me you fucked the dude in the white suit,” Gloria groans. “You’re kidding me, Vic.”

“He was hot!” Victor argued, cheeks flushing red. “What I do in my private time isn’t any of your business!”

Gloria’s face contorts into a glare as she opens her mouth to say something, but she’s interrupted by Marnie’s unamused question.

“Wait, wasn’t that Hop?”

“What are you talking about?” Victor laughs bitterly, shaking his head. “That wasn’t Hop. Hop didn’t want to come, remember?”

“He had purple hair!” Gloria shouts in frustration. “Victor,  _ most people don’t have purple hair and yellow eyes and they sure as hell don’t like Wooloo enough to dress up as one in a fucking masquerade party with cool dragons and shit!” _

“What? No – that couldn’t be Hop,” Victor says, shaking his head in disbelief.

“He literally recognized me when we talked earlier, Victor, that was Hop,” Gloria yells, shaking him. “Victor. Look at me.”

If that really was Hop – did he know it was Victor?

_ Of course _ he did. How could he not?

“I think I fucked up,” Victor croaks, balling his hands into fists.

Hop knows he likes him.

“You just got fucked, it’s not a big deal,” Bede says nonchalantly. “It’s not like you like him – right?”

Everyone in the cabin stares at Bede like he’s an idiot.

“Okay, or maybe you do! So what?” Bede snaps, flushing red before he changes the topic. “Do you think he recognized you?”

“I literally told him that I was here with friends and my crush wasn’t here but I couldn’t stop thinking about my crush and –” Victor wheezes. 

“Slow down, Vic,” Gloria says, patting him on the back. “It’ll be okay. Let’s just talk to him about it and see what he has to say.”

* * *

It most definitely isn’t okay when he’s bound to see Hop the next day with hickeys all over his neck and chest. 

Before Victor can cancel their early-morning meeting, Hop shows up at their door two hours early. Against her word, Gloria lets him into the house, and now Hop is  _ sitting on their living room couch. _ Now, Victor paces upstairs, wringing his hands out as Gloria talks him down.

“Are you kidding me, Glo, I can’t go down there like this,” he says, gesturing to his exposed neck. Sure, it’s his regular outfit, and neither of them has a clean scarf or turtleneck, but there are literally marks all over his skin, poorly concealed with Gloria’s off-brand makeup. His twin shrugs, glancing at her nails.

“I mean, at least you fucked him, right?” she says. “Listen, just go down and talk to him, it can’t be that hard –”

“Fuck you,” Victor spits, shooting her a glare. “I’m feeling especially angry right now because of you. If our friendship is ruined –”

“It won’t be –”

“– I’m going to kick you out of this goddamn house,” Victor hisses as she nudges him out of the room. “I mean it.”

“No, you don’t,” Gloria says, rolling her eyes. “I’m locking you out.”

“Wait –”

She slams the door shut before he can reach for her hand, and Victor suddenly feels dread settle in his chest again. There’s no turning back now – Hop is waiting for him. Right now, Victor just wants to run out the front door and never look back – but he can’t when he imagines Hop’s broken look, gazing at his back.

He takes a breath and descends the steps. When he reaches the ground floor, Hop is staring at the kitchen counter – not at him. Nervously, he takes a peek at what’s resting on the table.

The Eternatus mask stares back at him, blue and red like DNA in all its glory.

_ He knows. _

“Hop,” Victor says, uncertain.

The other man’s head whips around, and his mouth forms the shape of Victor’s name before it falls to the floor. Hop’s eyes trace over Victor’s body slowly, his gaze landing on Victor’s patterned neck. Before Hop can feel pain, however, he reminds himself of the things he’d done to Victor unknowingly – and their conversation the night prior.

Victor likes him.

_ They’d also fucked, but that was less important right now  _ –

“Hey,” Hop breathes. “Victor.”

Pain washes over the brunette with Hop’s airy voice. Victor confessed and he hadn’t even known it – and now Hop knew that Victor had an all-too-humiliating crush. Victor feels like hellfire – he’s about to experience the rejection he’d always expected.

“Please, don’t say it,” Victor winces.

“No,” Hop says, getting up from his seat. “God, Victor, why would I not say it – you need to hear it.”

His heart sinks, submerged like a grave in a sea of bouquets. As Hop slowly approaches him, Victor steps back, afraid. “I already understand your feelings, so –”

“I love you,” Hop interrupts, closing the distance between them. 

Everything shatters after that – Victor’s pain, anxiety, concern – all of it falters, fading out of existence with Hop’s bold touch. This feels too odd – too surreal, but Victor wants it to be true anyway – so he leans into the kiss, running his hands through Hop’s hair. His lungs burn with familiarity almost as much as his body does.

“I love you,” Victor says when they part. 

“I know,” Hop says, grinning. “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> this was terrible im sorry i just wanted to get my writers block out of my system ill go back to something good later I promise  
> I swear I write better stuff sometimes this was just. something my friend prompted me to write fkkasdjfkaldj please send help I am a terrible pwp author


End file.
